The manufacture of intraocular lenses provided with haptics has hitherto been labor intensive. Often, the starting point is a flat circular disk of transparent plastic of a high optical quality. The disk is clamped in the clamping head of a turning lathe and a first side is worked for forming a first optically accurately defined surface. Next, the disk is again clamped in the clamping head of a turning lathe and the opposite side is worked for forming a second optically accurate surface. Next, the thus worked disk is brought to a miller, where large parts of the circumferential parts of the disk are milled off, except for so-called haptics or loops. These are thin and/or slender and hence flexible parts which are integrally connected with a central lens part. The haptics ensure that the intraocular lens retains its proper position in the lens cavity of the eye. It will be clear that manufacturing intraocular lenses in this way is particularly labor intensive and hence also costly.
US2011/0098808 relates to an intraocular lens and a method of manufacturing such a lens. While in paragraph [0063] it is stated that in the embodiment shown the intraocular lens 10 is of one piece design, with the optical part 12 and the haptics 14 integrally formed, it is not disclosed in that publication by what method this integral construction is obtained. While a cast mold method is described in [0109] to [0112], that description does not disclose that an intraocular lens with formed-on haptics is obtained directly, without aftertreatment. It is well possible that during cast molding a product is formed with a central part that possesses the desired optical properties, and a disk-shaped ring surrounding the central part, whereby in a follow-up step the haptics are formed from this ring by milling Then, also, a one piece intraocular lens is obtained with an optical part and integrally formed-on haptics. The manner of forming the haptics is not the subject of US2011/0098808; US'808 is about providing microstructures on the surface of the lens to influence cell growth.
Reference is further made to US2006/0145369 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,702,735 in which injection molds are disclosed for manufacturing casting mold halves for the purpose of the manufacture of contact lenses. With these known injection molds, use is made of optical inserts.
The object of the invention is to alleviate the problems of manufacturing intraocular lenses, so that the cost price of intraocular lenses can be reduced.